Opinion
December 23, 1987
Appeal from the County Court of Columbia County (Leaman, J.).
Defendant contends that his guilty plea should not have been accepted by County Court since the allocution indicated a defense of justification or self-defense. The allocution, however, clearly and unequivocally established that defendant was the initial aggressor in the confrontation which led to defendant's shooting of decedent, and defendant never claimed that he withdrew from the encounter. In addition, although defendant stated that he was afraid of decedent, he admitted that decedent had nothing in his hands and had not reached for any weapon when defendant shot him from a distance of 20 to 30 feet. Nor did defendant claim that he could not safely retreat. The defense of justification is not applicable in these circumstances (see, Penal Law § 35.15 [b]; [2] [a]; see also, People v Mungin, 106 A.D.2d 519).
Defendant also contends that his plea was coerced as a result of certain statements made by County Court and the prosecutor, but he never moved to withdraw his plea (see, People v Sickler, 117 A.D.2d 880, 881, lv denied 67 N.Y.2d 1057). In any event, the record shows that defendant had several weeks to consider the plea offer before he was advised that he must either accept the offer or proceed to trial. We find no merit in the arguments raised in defendant's supplemental brief. The judgment of conviction should, therefore, be affirmed.
Judgment affirmed. Kane, J.P., Main, Casey, Weiss and Levine, JJ., concur.